'Radicalised' Pune Girl Revealed ISIS Grand Plan to Attack India

Radicalised Pune girl also discloses names of terror group’s 20 Indian sympathisers.

MUMBAI: The “radicalised” girl from Pune has told officers of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that she had information about the Islamic State’s (IS) plan to attack India by 2020. She has also revealed names of 20 Indians with whom she used to share the terror group’s radical views on social networking sites.

The ATS had on Thursday announced that the 16-year-old was under their surveillance for establishing contact with around 200 sympathisers of the IS. The ATS has convinced the girl to drop her plan to join the terror group as a suicide bomber. An ATS officer said the girl, whose identity has been withheld, told them during counseling that the IS was planning a massive assault on the Indian sub-continent by 2020. “She said IS was planning to expand its base outside Syria. She has also taken the names of other Indian sympathisers of the IS,” he said.

He, however, added that security agencies were aware of the IS plan to attack India through media reports published much before the girl was tracked. The ATS had zeroed in on her on the basis of information provided by a suspected terrorist Mohammad Sirajuddin, arrested in Jaipur for alleged links with the IS. The ATS has found contacts of several IS sympathisers on her Facebook account. The convent-educated girl had secured 90 per cent marks in her Class X exam. She suddenly changed her lifestyle, gave up wearing modern clothes and began wearing the traditional burqa. Her parents have claimed they were surprised by her sudden change but did not suspect she was in contact with IS sympathisers.

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